Rummy Used Bibilical Quotes To Let Bush Know How Well War Was Going

Robert Draper has the GQ story out Sunday about how then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent George W. Bush daily briefings featuring triumphant color war photos and biblical quotations, knowing this would be an effective way to manipulate a God-focused president.

The briefing’s cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days’ war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, was a quote that may have raised some eyebrows. It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death.”

The cover sheets originated with Major General Glen Shaffer, a Christian intelligence director who served the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense. Some Pentagon officials worried that if these messages leaked out, the hearts and minds we were trying to win over would see our war as a religious conflict. But Shaffer’s defense was that his superiors at the Pentagon appreciated the religious messages. Although Rumsfeld wasn’t one to publicly flaunt religion, he knew this was a way to bond with a president who frequently quoted the Bible.